can help to cultivate positive and open and clear mood, increase the sense of humor, more to strengthen digestion system and livers, to clean toxins

in blood, also can make skin smooth and detailed

o 含維他命Ｃ；最常見的橙色色素胡蘿蔔素，是強力的抗氧化物質，減少空氣污染對人體造成的傷害，並有抗衰老功效；

with vitamin C ; very often we can see carotene with orange color pigment, which is a material of powerful anti-oxidiz, can reduce the harm to body

which comes from air polution, also with function of anti-oldness and feebleness

o 由於黃色接近光譜中紅色的一端，所以黃色食物也有振奮作用，能讓人精神集中，所以在精神渙散的夜晚，喝一杯甘菊茶就能讓思維重新進入狀態；since the yellow coloer is close to an end of red color in spectrum, so yellow color foods also with sphere of action of inspiration, to make

people concentrate spiritually, so, to take one cup of sweet chrysanthemum tea can make thought back to proper condition on the night when you have lax or slack spirit

the skin, meat, network, and core of orange can make into medicine, to adjust Chi and get stomatch healthy, stop coughing and to even pant, with plenty pectin can reduce blood pressure, 橙皮甙 and 蘆丁 may strengthen blood tube and to raise resistance ability of blood capill, so can prevent adult disease of high blood pressure and artery’s hardeness

o 玉米和香蕉等還是很好的垃圾清理劑，因其有強化消化系統與肝臟的功能，同時還能清除血液中的毒素，玉米還能明眸善睞；

corn and banana are also very good cleansing stuff for trash, because they have function of strengthen digestion system and livers, can clean

o 具有抗敏感及炎症功能。 with function of anti-sensitiveness and anti-inflammation

使用很簡單，知道自己什麼不好，照套用即可。如咬到舌頭者，吃二個紅色的番茄；容易感冒者，多吃些白色的雪梨；口腔潰瘍者，多吃些黃色的橙……，余此類推。it’s easy to use above knowledge, if you know what no good of your body, just do it abide by above rules, for example, if you bite your tongue, you can take 2 red tomatoes ; those who easily catch cold, you can take white snow pears often ; if the mouth with ulcer, you can take yellow orange often….

a year with 12 months, people who born in different month with their own representitive 五行’s attribute. the first month in Chinese calendar and the 2nd month are months for prosperous 木 ; the 4th and 5th months in Chinese calendar are months for prosperous 火 ; the 7th and 8th months in Chinese calendar are months for prosperous 金 ; the 10th and 11th months in Chinese calendar are months for prosperous 水 ; the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th and the 12th months in Chinese calendar are months for prosperous 土.

五行多除少補 to delete extra 五行 and to supply more 五行 when insufficient

正因為所有術數都與五行不可分割，所以因應命中所需，多進食有助生旺運程的食品，就能“自行”提升運勢。

just because all skills can’t seperate from 五行, so, how to manage or to handle what we need in life is to take more about foods which are helpful for producing goodluck, then, you may promote luck “by yourself”.

in addition to fate format, we can also differentiate food’s 5 kinds of tastes into 五行, among them, bitterness belongs to 金 (gold), sourness belongs to 木 (wood), saltness belongs to 水 (water), hot and spicy belongs to 火 (fire), sweetness belongs to 土 (soil). according to the principle of 五行 that make each of them with positive interaction, people who with prosperous 木, better take gold and soil, can eat more about bitter and sweet foods ; people who with prosperous fire, better take gold and water, can eat more about bitter and salt foods ; people who with prosperous gold, better take wood and fire, can eat more about sour and spicy foods ; people who with prosperous water, better take fire and soil, can eat more about spicy and sweet foods ; people who with prosperous soil, better take wood, can eat more about sour foods.

The Difference between Taoism, Buddhism and Shenism

(…) Chinese folk religion retains traces of some of ancestral primal religious belief systems such as animism and shamanism, which include the veneration of (and communication with) the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Heaven and various stars, as well as communication with animals. It has been practiced by the Chinese people for thousands of years, and since the start of the Common Era alongside Buddhism, Taoism and various other religions.

Rituals, devotional worship, myths, sacred re-enactment, festivals and various other practices associated with different folk gods and goddesses form an important part of Chinese culture today. The veneration of secondary gods does not conflict with an individual’s chosen religion, but is accepted as a complementary adjunct, particularly to Taoism.

Some mythical figures in folk culture have been integrated into Chinese Buddhism, as in the case of Miao Shan. She is generally thought to have influenced the beliefs about the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin. This bodhisattva originally was based upon the Indian counterpart Avalokiteshvara. Androgynous in India, this bodhisattva over centuries became a female figure in China and Japan. Guanyin is one of the most popular Bodishisattvas to which people pray. (…)

(…) To distinguish “Shenists” from Taoists and Buddhists is to ignore the reality that it is not possible to define any Chinese belief system as it is practised today as one with a uniform, discreet set of values.

Here’s why: The act of Chinese ancestral and deity worship predates history. China’s first official religion – really more of a “thought system” – was Taoism, believed to be founded by the legendary philosopher, Lao Zi, over 2000 years ago.

Even then its practice was split three-ways: philosophical, religious and popular Taoism, with the latter two belief systems incorporating aspects of folk religion such as ancestral spirits, divination, and sorcery. Then came Buddhism, which was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty, about 200 AD, around the same time Taoism became the nation’s official religion. Buddhism was thus intertwined with Taoism from the start. Its scriptures were translated using Taoist vocabulary; records show Buddhism at the time was described as a kind of “foreign Taoism”.

The switcheroo went both ways. In competing for the public’s attention, Taoist leaders followed the Buddhists’ example and built monasteries and temples. They also adopted their ideas of vegetarianism and prohibited alcohol. The mix finally coalesced during the Song Dynasty, when Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism were patched together resulting in the state-endorsed Neo-Confucian philosophy, which lasted roughly between 960 and 1280 AD.

(…)

Venerable Shravasti Dhammika, an Australian who lives in Singapore and is the advisor to the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, is right in that the worship of Chinese folk gods and spirits has nothing to do with the original, philosophical teachings of Lao Zi or the Buddha.

(…) Chinese folk belief is based on the structure of Taoism. E.g, looking at talisman practices in ‘Chinese belief’/Chinese Folklore; we can see the dominance influence is Taoism. Chinese belief – literature and novels like – Journey to the west, Feng Shen Bang etc, although some are ‘degrading’ Taoism, but nonetheless the key structure is still very much Taoist – e.g, in Journey to the West, its background is set on Jade Emperor’s Heavenly administration(Celestial Heaven). Look at the ‘gui ren zhi’ (joss paper) in ‘Chinese folk beliefs’ and it is clearly a form of Taoist talisman (by the writings, pictures etc). (…)

Chinese folk religion

(…) The ”’Chinese folk religion”’ or ”’Chinese traditional religion”’ ( or 中国民间宗教 or 中国民间信仰 / Zhōngguó mínjiān zōngjiào or Zhōngguó mínjiān xìnyăng), sometimes called ”’Shenism”’ (pinyin: ”Shénjiào”, 神教).
The term ”’Shenism”’ (神教, ”Shénjiào”) was first used in 1955 by anthropologist Allan J. A. Elliott, in his work ”Chinese Spirit-Medium Cults in Singapore”.
During the history of China it was named ”’Shendao”’ (神道, ”Shéndào”, the “way of the gods”), apparently since the time of the spread of Buddhism to the area in the Han period (206 BCE–220 CE), in order to distinguish it from the new religion. The term was subsequently adopted in Japan as ”Shindo”, later ”Shinto”, with the same purpose of identification of the Japanese indigenous religion. The oldest recorded usage of ”Shindo” is from the second half of the 6th century. is the collection of grassroots ethnic religious+ traditions of the Han Chinese+, or the indigenous religion of China+.Lizhu, Na. 2013. p. 4. Chinese folk religion primarily consists in the worship of the ”shen” (神 “gods”, “spirits”, “awarenesses”, “consciousnesses”, “archetypes”; literally “expressions”, the energies that generate things and make them thrive) which can be nature deities, city deities or tutelary deities of other human agglomerations, national deities, cultural+ hero+es and demigods, ancestors and progenitors, deities of the kinship. Holy narratives regarding some of these gods are codified into the body of Chinese mythology. Another name of this complex of religions is ”’Chinese Universism”’, especially referring to its intrinsic metaphysical perspective.

The Chinese folk religion has a variety of sources, localised worship forms, ritual and philosophical traditions. Among the ritual traditions, notable examples includes Wuism and Nuoism. Chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized inadequately as “Taoism”, since over the centuries institutional Taoism has been assimilating or administering local religions. Zhengyi Taoism+ is especially intertwined with local cults, with Zhengyi ”daoshi” often performing rituals for local temples and communities. Faism, the tradition of the ”fashi” (“masters of rites”), inhabits the boundary between Taoism and folk religion. Confucianism advocates worship of gods and ancestors through proper rites, which have an ethical importance. Taoism in its various currents, either comprehended or not within the Chinese folk religion, has some of its origins from Wuism.Libbrecht, 2007. p. 43. Chinese religion mirrors the social landscape, and takes on different shades for different people.Wolf, Arthur P. “Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors.” ”Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society.” Ed. Arthur O. Wolf. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974. pp. 131-182. (…)

“Temple Oracles in a Chinese City” – A Study of the Use of Temple Oracles in Taichung, Central Taiwan” written by JULIAN PAS

Journey to the West by Wu Cheng-en

A mix of Buddhist, Taoist and Shenist dieties appear in the the “Journey to the West” (16th century):

(…) The Jade Emperor then ordered all the gods of the Department of Thunder to split up and invite the Three Pure Ones, the Four Emperors, the Five Ancients, the Six Superintendents, the Seven Main Stars, the Eight Points of the Compass, the Nine Bright Shiners, the Ten Chiefs, the Thousand Immortals, and the Ten Thousand Sages to a banquet to thank the Buddha for his mercy. Then he ordered the Four Great Heavenly Teachers and the Nine Heavenly Maidens to open the golden gates of the jade capital, and Palace of the Great Mystery, and the Tong Yang Jade Palace, invite the Tathagata to take his seat on the Throne of the Seven Precious Things, arrange the places for all the different groups of guests, and set out the dragon liver, phoenix bone−marrow, jade liquor, and magic peaches. (…)

Shenism in the 21st Century

Offerings made to the ancestors including modern computer equipment at the Chinese Qingming Festival. It is the Shenist equivalent of the Christian All Souls’ Day (Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed / Feast of All Souls).